Sacramento Sets Rainfall Record

The National Weather Service says 1.3 inches of rain fell in the city, breaking the record for April 1.

Drew Peterson is a meteorologist with the Weather Service in Sacramento. He says the rain was also significant for another reason:

"1.3 inches is our average April precipitation, so we got our entire monthly precipitation in the course of one day."

Peterson says over the past week or so, three separate storms dumped a total of 2.4 inches of rain on the Sacramento area.

During the same time period, between six and eight feet of snow fell in the Sierra.

The Sierra as seen early Wednesday from a commercial airliner. Between six- and eight-feet of snow fell in recent storms. The recent storms bring the Sierra Nevada from one of the lowest snowpacks on record, according to Dr. Kelly Redmond, Desert Research Institute deputy director and regional climatologist. "We’re still in the bottom 5 for the last 100 years," he says. Al Gibes / Capital Public Radio

Peterson says Folsom Lake is now about 71 percent of where it would normally be. In early February, it was only a quarter of normal.

Folsom Lake, as seen early Wednesday from a commercial airliner, is now at 71 percent of seasonal normal following the recent rainfall. Al Gibes / Capital Public Radio

Despite the rain, Patterson says the Sacramento area is still only about half of normal for the water year.

Caltrans is worried about the possibility of dead trees falling onto some California highways. The agency has already removed 107,000 trees. Now the agency is getting ready to remove another 54,000 trees, including some on private land.